COACH URBAN MEYER UP FOR TWO-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION

Winningest active coach would be in place at Ohio State at least through the 2022 football season

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pending approval by the Ohio State University Board of Trustees, Urban Meyer will receive a two-year contract extension that will keep him on the sidelines as head coach of the Buckeyes at least through the 2022 football season. On Thursday a committee of the board approved the contract extension for a vote on the full board agenda on Friday.

“I want to thank President Michael V. Drake for his guidance and the Board of Trustees for its work in considering this extension,” Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director Gene Smith said. “I think everyone will agree that we have one of the finest coaches and mentors in Urban Meyer leading our football program.”

Meyer completed his sixth season as head coach in 2017. His Ohio State teams are 73-8, including a 47-3 record in the Big Ten Conference – the best conference record in the nation over this time – with six consecutive divisional championships and two Big Ten championships. In 2012, Meyer guided the Buckeyes to a 12-0 season, just the sixth undefeated and untied season in school history.

Ohio State won the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship in 2014 under Meyer – the eighth national title in school history and first since 2002 – and in addition to Big Ten titles in 2014 and 2017, has won the 2015 Sugar Bowl, the 2017 Fiesta Bowl and the 2017 Cotton Bowl, a 24-7 victory over No. 8 USC to cap last season. That win raised Meyer’s all-time bowl game record to 11-3 for a .785 winning percentage that is second-highest in college football history.

Ohio State is tied for the fewest losses in the nation since Meyer took over and the 73 wins are second-most since the start of the 2012 season, Meyer’s first year.

Meyer’s program culture at Ohio State stresses accountability, promotes respect, prepares young men for life after football and develops talents at an unsurpassed rate. His program has produced 33 NFL draft picks the last five years, including 10 first-round picks – the second-highest total since 2013 – and record numbers of selections through the second (seven Buckeyes selected), third (10) and fourth (12) rounds of the 2016 NFL Draft.

And his student-athletes are succeeding in the classroom. Buckeye football players have earned five academic All-American honors the past four years, one National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete award and the team had its highest fall academic semester grade point average in over eight years last fall. Additionally, 34 young men earned Academic All-Big Ten honors last fall.

Meyer will receive an approximate $1.2 million dollar raise as part of the extension to his contract. His total compensation for the 2018 season will be $7.6 million, which will make him the highest paid coach in the Big Ten Conference and move him to third nationally. The Ohio State Department of Athletics is completely self-supporting; it receives no university funds, tax dollars or student fees.

Meyer, second among active coaches with three national championships, is the winningest active coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision, with an .851 winning percentage and a record of 177-31. He is the third-winningest coach in Division I football history, trailing only Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy.